Tony Furtado, Kenny White, Dean!

[SINGER-SONGWRITER] Not-just-local hero Tony Furtado’s most recent release, Live at Mississippi Studios, though obviously recorded live, has a clarity of sound most artists would kill to achieve in the studio. Luminous tones from Furtado’s banjo and guitar, Paul Brainard’s steel guitar and trumpet and Luke Price’s fiddle make the album soar, buoying Furtado’s never better singing, and showcasing his songwriting and instrumental prowess anew. Kenny White, formerly a longtime commercial jingle writer, gifted session pianist, collaborator and producer for the likes of Shawn Colvin and J. Geils frontman Peter Wolf, started making his own records in 2002, revealing his strength as a solo songwriter in an adult-contemporary vein. If this were the ’70s, he’d be making hit records—and that’s not a dis.